Changes in the consequences of consumer envy due to ease of coping and social comparison targets

Abstract

Social comparison of oneself with another can elicit envy, an unpleasant affect that often induces attempts to cope with it. Belk (2011) suggests that societal changes have steered contemporary consumers' coping efforts away from those that have malicious interpersonal consequences. Whereas malicious envy may be less common in general, it may be concentrated in domains requiring self-regulation to prevent over-indulgence. Additional research is needed to increase our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms involved in consumer envy and consumers' choices of the targets of envy, as well as the consequences of envy for the marketplace.